Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/44580
AES Focus: Plug-ins fully integrated with Pro Tools automation and its control surfaces, such as the Icon, D-Control, and D-Command. The DNS Control System is the user- interface for the DNS One, as well as the DNS2000 and DNS3000. When looking at the layout of the plug-in, it has a simple design that is built for efficiency. There are three main areas: Ranger Selectors, Level Control and Band Gain Controls. The Range Selectors allow the user to choose the frequency band that is the source of the noise. The options are: Low (20Hz - 400Hz), Mid (200Hz - 6kHz), High (4kHz - 18kHz), Low+Mid (20Hz - 6kHz), Mid+High (200Hz -18kHz), and Full (20Hz – 18kHz). Selecting a range concentrates all of the filters within the DNS One's filter bank across that part of the audio spectrum. So if you choose Full, there will be a wider range of frequencies assigned to each Band Gain Control. By narrowing the range, you have more accuracy when pinpointing the problem frequencies to attenuate. The Level Control tells the DNS One how much noise is present in the input. To deter- mine the amount of noise, make sure all the faders are pulled down (the Level Control and all the Band Gain Control faders). Next, slowly bring up the Level fader. When you hear the noise disappear, that is where the Level Control should sit. Band Gain Controls are faders that are used to control the amount of noise attenua- tion in each band within the selected range. The DNS One divides the signal into six well- defined bands. Digital filters analyze each of the bands and suppress the noise indepen- dently in each. The Band Gain Controls deter- mine the maximum amount of processing that the DNS One will apply to each band. While Cedar hardware has been popular in many large post facilities, the DNS One is the ideal noise suppression option for Pro Tools audio-post engineers who like to stay "in the box." It offers the same performance and quality as the hardware version, with all the ease-of-use as a plug-in. It can be used as either RTAS or AudioSuite, making it even more flexible. It also has zero latency and a low CPU usage. IZOTOPE iZotope (www.izotope.com) is a research- driven audio technology company based in Boston. Its products and audio technologies are used by musicians (BT, Depeche Mode, and RZA of WuTang Clan) and engineers alike. While iZotope will have many products on display at AES, there are three important prod- ucts for audio post engineers: the RX2 ($349), RX2 Advanced ($1,199) and the newest ver- sion of Ozone, which will be unveiled at the AES show. The RX2 is an all-inclusive audio repair toolkit that allows you to clean up noise, hiss, buzz and hum, remove clicks and crackles, restore clipped audio, visually select and suppress unwanted sounds, resynthesize missing audio and more. It's available as a suite of plug-ins for RTAS/AudioSuite, VST, MAS, Audio Unit and DirectX, and as a standalone application. The RX2 uses iZotope's extensive research in psycho- acoustics and image processing. One interesting aspect is their innovative visual editing para- digm that allows users to see as well as hear sonic problems. Incorporating visual tools, such as the Lasso, Brush and Magic Wand, now allows users to make freehand selections of problem sounds. The Spectral 34 Post • October 2011 www.postmagazine.com Repair even resynthesizes audio, allowing the user to remove unwanted individual sounds and fill in gaps in the waveform. The RX2 offers Denoiser; Spectral Repair; Declipper, Declicker; Decrackler; Hum Remover; six- band Parametric EQ; Channel & Phase Oper- ations; Spectrum Analyzer; Batch Processer; Spectrogram Display; Lasso; Brush and Magic Wand Selection Tools; Edit History; Session Support; and Compare Settings. The RX2 Advanced has all the features of the RX2, plus it has an adaptive mode in Denoiser that allows you to remove noise that changes over time. It also adds a Deconstruct module, offers third-party plug-in support, has multi-resolution processing in Spectral Repair, provides 64-bit SRC sample rate conversion, MBIT+ dithering, iZotope Radius time and pitch control, Export History as XML, and Azimuth Alignment for tape restoration. In addition to the Lasso, Brush and Magic Wand tools, there were other upgrades to enhance the visual editing. For example, the side and bottom panels can be hidden to provide a nearly full-screen view of the audio spectrogram or waveform. Also, the Magic Wand tool can automatically select a sound and its harmonics for faster editing. You can also make multiple selections and process them all together. Another interesting addition to the RX2 Advanced is the Deconstruct Module. According to iZotope, this audio manipulation tool analyzes an audio selection and separates the signal into its Tonal and Noisy audio com- ponents. For example, a singer's voice has tonal parts (vowels, M and N sounds) and noisy sounds (breath sounds and sibilance like H, S and Sh). The Deconstruct Module gives you the power to separate and rebalance these audio building blocks, opening up cre- ative possibilities like accentuating only the tonal parts of a flute or sax recording, or bringing out the airy quality of a nuanced vocal performance. This year at AES, iZotope will unveil the next-generation of its complete mastering system, Ozone 5, and extend the product line with newcomer Ozone 5 Advanced. Ozone offers a complete mastering system in a single plug-in. The current Ozone 4 includes seven essential mixing tools: Loudness Maximizer; Paragraphic EQ; Multiband Dynamics; Multi- band Stereo Imaging; Harmonic Exciter; Dith- ering; and Mastering Reverb. While most details of their new Ozone 5 were still under wraps as of the end of September, we can only imag- ine what new features iZotope is going to add based on previous versions. You can find out more about Ozone 5 and Ozone 5 Advanced at www.izotope.com/ozone5.